I know my Achilles Heel for this project is mounted troops, which in theory should take about the same time as twice the number of foot to assemble, paint and base, but for some reason are taking me longer.
One "mistake" I made with these guys was to paint everything individually before final assembly - the next unit will be fully assembled first and then painted just like a 'one piece casting' along with trying a few different techniques to try and speed things up, to see how much time that saves.
Very brief, but a 'progress report' none the less and I shall try to make up for it next week!
Great work, Wargame Addict. Haven't done cavalry in ages myself, but I always preferred to put them together and then paint rather than sub-assemblies. Thoroughly enjoying this "ECW" project of yours :-)
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Simon - it was quite apparent in the last post that I was a bit down in the dumps with the slow progress, everyone's advice seems to have paid dividends :-)
DeleteI think a "muster" to see the progress so far is in order for next week.
Progress is progress, no matter how slow it is. When I paint mounted figures I nearly always glue them and their mount together before I paint them. Keep at it, mate!
ReplyDeleteVery true Bryan, and realistically I have enough units now to run a few trial games, so this really is a milestone :-)
DeleteI've already assembled and primed the next batch of mounted figures, so they're off to a flying start, and will DEFINITELY be the way I do 'em in the future!
As Bryan says - progress is progress but it doesn't seem to be moving witch finder general forward at all and I'm very keen to find how you go with that.
ReplyDeleteIf you cut down your sleeping time maybe you could get more done. - it's only a suggestion. ;-)
Point noted John, and already being attended to ;-)
DeleteOn the modelling front, the next four troops of horse will be based with some singles - not for 'casualty removal' (which isn't a feature of the ECW rules I'm using), but so they can also be used in WfG games, and on the gaming side, the plan is to run BOTH campaigns alongside each other in a fictitious version of the Erewash Valley (all will be explained in a future post), so who knows what might happen - ECW battles with preachers giving rousing sermons on one side, while witches ply the troops with invigorating potions on the other??
I'm at that age now that if I don't get my sleep, even the cats avoid me cos I'm so grumpy ;-)
I'm impressed that you're only grumpy when you've not slept, you can't be that old yet, I'm grumpy all the time, sleep or no sleep.:-)
DeleteOK crack on then and I'll wait patiently.
I paint mounted troops as a single piece, although I do hate painting cavalry at all...
ReplyDeleteCheers mate, and nice to know you feel the same way about 'em - though to be honest, it's ONLY because I want 'em done in a hurry :-)
DeleteLosing a day today because we're gigging down your neck of the woods in Kent tonight - long drive down to Rochester, late finish, then drive home for stupid o'clock tomorrow morning.
Great looking unit Greg, I think your being a bit hard on yourself, cavalry can take at least 4 x the time of a normal model, a horse is almost twice the size of a man, plus the rider, then add in the complexity of getting to everything, so I think your doing great
ReplyDeleteThank you kindly for the words of encouragement Dave, and I hope you have a good day at ROBIN tomorrow :-)
DeleteDepending on what time I get home, I'll try and get over to the show and see you.
That would be awesome, always nice to meet someone in person and I believe Roy will be there too
DeleteSorry Dave, we got a call while we were on the way to Saturday's gig asking if we could cover for an act who'd had to pull out of a booking on Sunday in Southport. Our diary is pretty quiet for Jan & Feb, so we really HAD to take it :-(
DeleteI haven't been to a wargames show for ages, so I'm determined to get to at least one this year! I'll keep my eyes pealed and hopefully get to one you're attending :-)
No problem Greg, if you've got a booking then that's what's important, I'm afraid all the other shows this year are in the south, but if you fancy going to Salute you'll have the chance to meet a lot of the bloggers there
DeleteI hear your pain brother. Putting together and painting cav. Aggghhh. Still they are looking good.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tim - it's good to know I'm not alone :-)
DeleteTruth is, they're not actually THAT much of a pain, and it's really my impatience that's the problem.
I've just had a weekend away from the painting table and at this moment in time (2:40am!) I'm looking forward to getting 'stuck in' :-)
Greg, you've put in more work on painting the horses than I have ever done (except for 10mm horses, and those are quick to paint) so you've already got my respect.
ReplyDeleteI'd have just kept the 28mm horses all the same flesh colour, black hooves, dark brown leather work, then mixed in white socks or facial markings, possibly a pinkish nose and mouth here and there if the horse colour would produce such. For me, horses would be too much model to paint, so I'd be looking to get it done as painlessly as possible. Definitely you've gone the extra mile mixing up the colours, to my mind.
Not sure if I'd paint them as one model, or horse and rider separately. Probably separate, as I'd find it quicker to paint the rider without worrying about getting paint on the horse. But I am a messy painter, always having to tidy up where I've painted outside the lines.
Are you able to get to Hammerhead on March 3rd?
Oh, here's one for you to think about while silently cursing gluing up plastic horses.
DeleteWe (my family and me) ate horse over in Yugoslavia while on holiday back in the early 90s. None of us knew it was horse until we asked the hotel waitress what the delicious meat was that we'd been served - you got what you were served and were thankful, especially since you had to cross the road from our hotel to another to get your meals! Didn't put me off and I'd eat it again if offered. Wouldn't want to insects or some't strange like animal testicles, nor dogs, but horse tasted okay from what I remember.
Hope you weren't eating while reading this! :)
Cheers for the words of encouragement Roy, the last lot of horses I did 'en masse' were 15mm - I've never had any 10mm minis - {maybe I need to redress this! ;-) } and they were DEFINITELY easier.
DeleteI've just marked Hammerhead in the diary. We're down in St Austel the night before, so I'll be there late - but I'll be there! (It's a few days before my birthday, so I'll be treating myself)
I've heard that horsemeat is tasty - not too many people were complaining about the taste of Tesco's burgers a while ago ;-)
DeleteWargame Addict. I've just read a comment over on John's blog (Vagabond) and spotted the misunderstanding about your name. Possibly it could have been me, referring to you as Greg - which I still do - so, apologies for that.
No wonder Stu didn't have a clue who I was talking about when I kept calling you Greg!
I seem to be with the minority here, as I keep riders and mounts separate during painting. Oh, well - there's no right or wrong way to do it...
ReplyDeleteYes, horses are bigger than people, but generally they have much less in the way of clothing and equipment (i.e. the details that take all the time to paint!). I find the main problem with painting horse is that I get bored very quickly with doing it :-) .
You're right Hugh, it's a case of "horses for courses" (groan), and it's just a case of finding what works best for yourself.
DeleteOh, and also you're right again about them being tedious when painting a troop/regiment's worth, but I'm finding that with the pike and musket stands as well - I couldn't paint these armies without having plenty of 'distractions' on the bench (individual minis from other games) to break up the tedium :-)